J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales and Isle of Wight 1795-1800 > Smaller South Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View across Swansea Bay 1795

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View across Swansea Bay’ 1795
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Recto:
View across Swansea Bay 1795
D00475
Turner Bequest XXV 14
Pencil on white wove paper, 130 x 205 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘14’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XXV 14’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Swansea Bay enjoyed a reputation for great beauty in the period of the Picturesque tour of Wales; the poet Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864), who owned property there and so might be considered prejudiced, opined that it was the equivalent for natural beauty of the Bay of Naples. Both bays are now disfigured by heavy industry.
Technical notes:
There is a tear extending approximately 15 mm from the bottom edge of the leaf.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘View across Swansea Bay 1795 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-view-across-swansea-bay-r1140794, accessed 17 July 2024.